Articles in “January 2009” from Datamation Blog

What's your take on the struggling U.S. economy? What does the near future hold?

Several signs have me worried: The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down another 100 points today, as it now flirts with dropping below 8,000. The sheer number of people getting sacked lately is beyond scary. And the housing market has taken such an enormous hit, it'll take years for it to come back.

Here's where I'd normally say, "but there are some good signs out there." But outside of a few decent corporate earnings reports and low gas prices, I really don't see many encouraging signs. Which leads to today's poll question.
 
When will the economy rebound?  

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I am against hacking in principle, and I suppose there was a chance this could have led to traffic problems and, worst-case, perhaps injury. But funny is funny:

Over the weekend, Austin, Texas drivers received some important warnings from their road signs about the impending zombie invasion. And the hackers who did it may know something we don't about the undead.

The road signs, which normally warn drivers about traffic conditions, displayed these warnings: "Zombies ahead . . . the end is near . . . run for cold climates!" Some signs also warned of Nazi zombies.

While city officials claimed to FOX News that the tampering could lead to jail time, nobody is going to get in trouble for warning the world about zombies. The company that owns the signs, Sterling Construction, would have to file a complaint with police for any legal action to be taken. Sterling owner Wayne Haggard told local KVUE-TV, "It's Austin. We have a sense of humor. Let it go."

According to the io9.com article, reprogramming road signs doesn't exactly take mad hacking skillz:

Most of these signs, including the ones owned by Sterling, have a default password. Anyone can walk up to the sign, type the default into the control panel, and reprogram it.

Even, presumably, the undead.

There's been a lot of debate in the House today about the impact of the broadband infrastructure stimulus proposal supported by the Obama administration.

But however you feel about the amount spent on broadband stimulus (right now the price tag is between $6 billion and $9 billion) or how many jobs it would create, here are two inescapable realities: 1) the United States currently is no better than an also-ran in broadband penetration, and 2) European nations aren't sitting still on the issue.

The latest data I could find (and feel free to alert me to fresher numbers), from last June, shows America trailing 14 other nations in broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants. Granted, many of the nations with higher broadband penetration are much smaller and their populations more concentrated, but Canada is ranked No. 10, and it has plenty of sparsely populated areas.

Meanwhile, many of the nations already ahead of the U.S. will be getting more money to increase broadband penetration:

The European Commission says that it is earmarking $1.3 billion (in U.S. dollars)  to achieve 100% high-speed internet coverage for all European citizens by 2010 as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan. On average, 93% of Europeans can enjoy a high speed online connection but in some countries broadband covers less than half of the rural population.

A recent study shows that, assuming a constant adoption rate up to 2015, broadband development will help create around 1 million jobs in Europe and a broadband-related growth of economic activity of $1.1 trillion (US)  between 2006 and 2015.

The impact on European industry is clearly positive: apart from civil work for networks which has a direct impact on local employment, sales of network equipment will also benefit global European suppliers (like Siemens, Ericsson, Nokia, Alcatel-Lucent), as well as telecoms or satellite operators. And areas with advanced broadband connections will see an increase in demand for products and services.

We're part of a global economy. It'd be a shame if partisan bickering in Washington resulted in the U.S. falling further behind in broadband. It seems to me that some of the major companies now laying off workers could benefit from the stimulus, and that many out-of-work Americans would welcome the creation of new jobs.

One of President Obama's most important initiatives, at least in my opinion, is the modernization of health care. A huge component of this, obviously, is information technology.

Lest there be skeptics or doubters that this push is money and time well-spent, new research confirms what should be intuitively obvious: Effective IT systems in hospitals save lives.

From a Reuters article on internetnews:

Hospitals in Texas that used computers to keep track of patient records and manage care had lower rates of deaths, complications and costs, U.S. researchers said this week, offering a strong argument for hospitals to go "paperless."

They said patients treated in hospitals that ranked highest in use of health information technology to manage patient records and physician notes were 15 percent less likely to die compared with patients in hospitals that ranked lower.

"If these results were to hold for all hospitals in the United States, computerizing notes and records might have the potential to save 100,000 lives annually," Dr. Neil Poe of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, lends fresh evidence that information technology can improve health quality and cut costs by reducing errors. 

This conclusion runs somewhat counter to previous studies, including one last spring by the Congressional Budget Office, that concluded the benefits of health IT were overstated. But earlier studies merely took into account the presence of IT in hospitals. The latest research looked at hospitals where the IT actually was used. And as nearly every IT pro can attest based on their own frustrating experiences, when employees in any enterprise don't use technology, it's hard for there to be any benefit. It's like concluding a netbook isn't helping a content worker who still takes notes exclusively on a legal pad. Gee, ya think?

Health care modernization also benefits more than hospitals and patients, as a CIO Update article from Monday points out:

Adding more fuel to the IT jobs fire likely will be the Obama administration's planned focus on health care modernization. Job site JobFox late last month posted its list of job sectors and key professions most likely to grow as a result of the president's stimulus policies. All of them in the health care space, aside from nurses, are linked to the IT profession: IT specialists, information security specialists, and software developers.

Let's hope the health care modernization drive is not sacrificed at the alter of petty partisan politics. When IT tools are as commonly used in hospitals as stethoscopes, we'll all benefit.

 

I'm a diehard Firefox user now, and I can't envision going back to Internet Explorer. Does anyone still think IE is a better browser?

Firefox is better in so many ways. I don't even know all the technical names of the stuff they do, or all the reasons why it's a better browser. I like how you can quickly copy a link off a web page and paste it where you need it; I like how the url is more filled out, gives more details on the page you're going for, whatever that's called; and I also like the search bar at the bottom of the browser. And the tabbed pages are very nice.

But even this Firefox fan is starting get curious about Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft has released RC1, which is not an ode to the old RC Cola but which actually means "release candidate 1" of IE 8.

PCMag.com got an early perusal of RC1 and has posted a review. The review is the subject of much discussion at  Slashdot. This particular comment piqued my interest, mostly because of the term "porn mode:"

The release candidate differs only slightly from Beta 2, most notably in tweaks to its InPrivate Browsing feature, aka porn mode. That feature has been decoupled with InPrivate Filtering, which blocks third-party content providers from creating profile of your browsing habits. RC1 also improves on performance, especially in startup time, but still trails Firefox and Chrome in JavaScript speed. Protection against the relatively new threat of "clickjacking," where a site tries to get you to press buttons underneath a sham frame page, has also been added -- the first browser to include such protections.

I'm also interested in the "clickjacking" protections, because I'm getting tired of the all the sham pages out there.

Many of the Slashdotters say that Microsoft is still hopelessly behind Firefox, that Microsoft mostly stopped browser development for five years until Firefox came along. I don't follow the browser wars at all, and I don't know all the underlying browser technology, but nonetheless, I've seen Microsoft do this before. A major new player comes on the scene, and Microsoft gets a fire in their belly. Here's hoping IE 8 continues the tradition and ratchets up browser development across the board.  

I've got a sixth-grade son who doesn't yet have a cell phone. He's got an iPod, his second, because he lost the first. And a laptop.

But no cell phone, thank God. He doesn't need that aggravation yet. And I think cell phones at school are, for the most part, a nuisance and a way for kids to goof off.

I was feeling pretty strongly about this, until I read Mike Elgan's column on Datamation, "Why Are Knowledge Machines Banned In Schools?"

I think Elgan fundamentally misunderstands how modern teenagers -- and the modern, under-stress public school -- work. But he makes a compelling argument:

How is it possible that we as a civilization have invented an inexpensive, universally available Knowledge Machine, then fail to teach students how to use it?

The problem is that cell phones, as well as media players and other electronic devices, are often used by students for distraction and mischief. Teachers want them banned, because kids are using gadgets to tune out their classrooms, pass around porn and cheat.

What teachers and schools don't seem to understand is that there is no connection between the disruptive and counterproductive use of cell phones by students, and their use for learning.

In fact, schools could make an equally insane argument against paper. Students are passing around notes on paper, viewing porn on paper, and using paper to roll joints and smoke them in the boys' room. Ban paper in schools!

Good points, but I think too much technology in schools -- technology that doesn't work right or is too expensive -- causes its own hassles. At my son's school this year, they all started working on the classroom's old Mac iBooks. Problem is, 90 percent of the kids didn't know how to use iBooks.
 
Plus, none of the kids have had a full typing class, like we used to get back in high school in the Dark Ages. But they were expected to fairly quickly type in sentences the teacher was reading aloud. Many kids were extremely frustrated. That's why I bought my son his own iBook off Craigslist for $150. (I later upgraded to an old Titanium PowerBook, because the iBook was too slow for games, but that's another blog topic.)

Maybe it's because I've dealt with so much lousy technology over the years. Or maybe it's because I've worked in overcrowded public schools and have seen what really goes on. The bottom line is this: until technology is easier to use and less expensive, don't go flooding the classroom with it, regardless of arguments like Elgan's.

Hard as it is for most of us to believe, there still are many Americans who are perfectly happy -- or at least satisfied -- with their dial-up Internet connections.

Ars Technica reports on the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project survey:

Under an Obama administration, some form of broadband stimulus package is comingand $6 billion is already being kicked around as a starting point. But if you build it, will they come? Pew's Internet & American Life Project reminds us that a hardcore contingent of holdouts won't, no matter how cheap or how fast the connection is.

[W]hen we look at the overall reasons why Americans don't have broadband, availability isn't the biggest barrier. Neither is price. Those two, combined, only account for one-third of Americans without broadband. Two-thirds simply don't want it.

The bigger issue is a lack of perceived value. 19 percent of dial-up users, for example, say that "nothing" would get them to upgrade, not even lower prices. ...

Those who have broadband tend to want more of it.

That last part certainly is true. And maybe that's the real reason so many American dial-up Internet users won't try broadband: They recognize its addictive qualities. You get a little taste of broadband, that heady rush, and then you want more. And then some more. And then some more. It never stops. You all know what I'm talking about. Before you know it you're attending 12-step meetings. It's no way to live.
 

I doubt there's one person in the world who's aware of Steve Jobs's apparently worsening health problems and doesn't feel bad about it. But Apple is a public company, and the health of a chief executive -- especially one so integral to that company's image, vision and performance -- can be treated as a private matter only up to a point.

It's a tough, awkward situation, no doubt. But Apple's obfuscation and clumsy handling of this matter has fueled speculation and rumors and left the public and investors wondering what else they don't know. They have every right to wonder. I'm not sure why being honest and up-front never was an option. If it had been, we wouldn't be where we are today:

U.S. regulators are examining Apple Inc.'s disclosures about Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs's health problems to ensure investors weren't misled, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's review doesn't mean investigators have seen evidence of wrongdoing, the person said, declining to be identified because the inquiry isn't public. Bloomberg News reported last week that Jobs is considering a liver transplant as a result of complications after treatment for cancer, according to people who are monitoring his illness.

Investors have been pressing for information on Jobs's health since June, when he appeared noticeably thinner at an Apple event. The company's stock whipsawed this month after Jobs, who battled pancreatic cancer in 2004, said he would remain CEO while seeking a "relatively simple" treatment for a nutritional ailment. Nine days later, Jobs said he would take a five-month medical leave after learning his health issues were "more complex."

To bring any case, the SEC would probably have to show the company tried to benefit by withholding information about an unambiguous diagnosis, said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor and SEC lawyer who now teaches at Wayne State University Law School in Detroit.

"It would be difficult, and certainly a new area of the law," Henning said. "You would have to pin down exactly what they knew, and with a health issue -- unlike a merger or a decline in revenue -- it's not subject to definitive answers."

Given that this is a "new area of law," I'd say it's unlikely the SEC will allege improper or illegal behavior on Apple's part. If anything, though, it should go down as a classic case of poor corporate public relations. You can say that's unimportant and trivial, but I suspect Apple's shareholders have a different opinion. And if the company and its spin doctors think that doesn't matter, they're in the wrong business.

At about the same time President Obama was sworn in today, www.whitehouse.gov was re-launched. Gone is the staid President Bush look, replaced by big photos, a blog, lots of information about Obama's plans, and just an overall refreshing look.

It appears the Obama web heads also set up some serious server support as well, because I expected the site to be slow on such a day, but it loaded nice and quick.

Overall, the web was a great place to keep up on the breaking inauguration news today. CNN posted some excellent stories, photos, columns, and blogs.

I also saw on CNN that Sen. Ted Kennedy collapsed at an inaugural luncheon. Later, he was alert and talking to family, Washington Hospital Center spokeswoman Paula Faria told CNN.

We certainly wish him well. We also send out our heartiest best wishes and good luck to the Obamas. And as the Dow dropped another 300-plus points to head south of 8,000 today I hope the economy responds soon to the new administration.

In this current economic climate, we all knew lots of layoffs were coming at struggling U.S. businesses. Even so, I'm stunned by all the recent headlines about tens of thousands getting sacked at many different companies.

The monster news today is Circuit City, the nation's second biggest electronics retailer, which is going out of business after failing to find a buyer. Already in bankruptcy, it is closing 567 stores and cutting 30,000 jobs.

Holy crap, 30k jobs? Where are all those people going to go? This week also brought news of AMD laying off 1,100, and Seagate cutting 6 percent.

I did a little research to get some perspective on the scale of these layoffs, and saw this on CNNMoney.com,  "Mass layoffs highest since 9/11." According to the story:

The number of layoff announcements involving at least 50 workers rose in September to the highest level since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks seven years ago, the government said.

There were 2,269 mass layoff actions, up 497 from August, according to statistics released by the Labor Department. That was the most mass layoffs since the 2,407 in September 2001.

So it's bleak out there. Even the brilliant, life-saving water landing on the Hudson can only boost our spirits for so long. In the meantime, there is a lot of help out there on the web. Stories about how to deal with layoffs and how to network are sprouting up like Twitter followers. The Silicon Valley Insider, for instance, has a helpful series called, "How (And Why!) To Talk About Being Laid-Off."

The insider is following a group of laid-off tech workers as they find their way back into gainful employment. My favorite of the job seekers is former content manager Heather Fink, 27. She's having to make some hard changes, as she tells the Insider, and I'll let her have the last word.

Q: Have you had to change your lifestyle at all? If so, any tips for other readers in your position?

Yes.  I realized I'm a total yuppie.  Manicures, fancy lotions, organic tampons -- you name it.  I learned how to be really careful with grocery shopping and think about what I'm really going to eat. I used to eat all organic and I've changed my standards to just fresh. ...  Also, keeping a clean apartment helps maintain sanity.  I'm otherwise more cluttered.  Not going out and drinking late much because I can't handle waking up late and doing nothing all day as an unemployed person.  Too sad.

It appears that sometime in the next few hours microblogging site Twitter will log its 1 millionth user account, at least according to a service called Twitter Grader.

As of 6:24 p.m. Eastern time, Twitter has 996,816 user accounts. You can see the total by going to http://twitter.grader.com and typing in the name of any account. You'll get that account's grade (on a scale going up to 100), plus where it ranks numerically relative to all other accounts. If you want to use ours, the account is "datamationblog". We won't tell you our grade because, well, the whole thing's a bit silly, though harmless fun. Plus we don't like to brag.

Twitter, of course, has been in the news since yesterday when the site played a role in the coverage of the emergency plane landing in New York's Hudson River.

Sure, it pales in comparison to the 150 million-plus users on Facebook, but that site's a graybeard compared to Twitter.

Social networking still remains, primarily, the province of teens and young adults. But a new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project finds that use of sites such as Facebook and MySpace among older Americans is accelerating.

From the survey summary:

The share of adult internet users who have a profile on an online social network site has more than quadrupled in the past four years -- from 8% in 2005 to 35% now.

Not surprisingly, however, the percentages drop as we move through the age demographics:

75% of online adults 18-24 have a profile on a social network site

57% of online adults 25-34 have a profile on a social network

30% of online adults 35-44 have a socnet profile

19% of adults 45-54 have a social network profile, while 10% of adults 55-64 and 7% of adults 65 and older have one.

I'm assuming the proportion of drunk/naked pictures tracks with the above data. One can only hope.

We're not going to know for some time whether Yahoo's incoming chief executive can turn around the Internet pioneer's fortunes or stock price, but I like her attitude. From internetnews.com:

Yahoo's new CEO Carol Bartz dismissed the idea she wasn't ready to lead an Internet company and said instead that she's ready to "kick some butt."

The comments came during a conference call today that announced her appointment -- and gave her a chance to come out swinging at naysayers....

"I didn't know CAD before I came to Autodesk; I didn't know workstations before I joined Sun," she said. "I believe there are fantastic people here and on the board to jumpstart my education. I know technology."

What I like about her comments is that she's making it clear she doesn't consider Yahoo's employees the problem. And I'd agree. Yahoo's real problem in recent years has been lack of a coherent strategy. The company is a mushy mess. That's not the fault of the thousands of rank-and-file employees; it's a flaw of leadership. Does this affect morale? Of course. Are there workers at Yahoo who are underperforming and might need reassigning or replacing? Well, show me a place where that's not the case.

To me, Bartz's attitude is a refreshing change from that of tough-guy turnaround artists who vow to come in and "kick some ass." The thing is, CEOs are replaced because problems usually start at the top, not the bottom. So the right ass already has been kicked. Bragging about how you're going to clean house, how heads are gonna roll, blah blah blah, almost always is grandstanding for the benefit of Wall Street and the board of directors, and it's a poor substitute for a viable market strategy.

Maybe I'm reading way too much into Bartz's comments. There may be some butt-kicking at Yahoo. There may be more layoffs. If so, I'll just go back and delete this post write about it. But so far, her style impresses me. Here's wishing Bartz -- and Yahoo -- luck.

It's product of the year time for Datamation, Intranet Journal and other Jupitermedia sites.

At Datamation and Intranet Journal, the way we run these annual awards is like so: The editors pick the product categories. (See below for more on that.)

Then we toss it to the real experts who use these laptops, enterprise applications, and more: you, the readers. Readers can nominate products in any or all of the categories.

Who and what are eligible for the award? The eligibility guidelines are here. But the major criterion is that the nominated products must have been introduced or significantly updated (e.g. a new release version) within the 2008 calendar year.

The winners will be announced on the respective home pages.

The Datamation nomination form is now up. Intranet Journal will post its form tomorrow. The Datamation categories are:

PC Security Software,
Cloud Computing product/solution
Enterprise Linux
Enterprise Security
Business Laptop
Handheld Device
Network and Systems Management Product
Office Productivity Software
Virtualization Software
Mobile Application

The Intranet Journal categories are:

Intranet Design Suite
Semantic Web Application
Blogging Software
Document Management/Collaboration Product
Enterprise Search Tool

For a completes list of Jupitermedia sites that are handing out product of the year awards, click here.

When times are tough, companies spend less. That's reflected in both a recent IT salary survey detailed here by James Maguire of Datamation and recent IT budget surveys by research firm Forrester and security vendor Finjan.

But the bad guys don't let up when the economy hits the skids -- often it's just the opposite and, indeed, Finjan has documented an increase in cybercrime.

Fortunately, enterprises seem to be aware of this and responding appropriately. According to results released today of an online survey by Finjan, IT departments overall will allocate a larger portion -- 12.6%, to be exact -- of their budgets to security in 2009.

Here are some highlights of the Finjan survey, which included 200 respondents:

• 38% expect no change in 2009 IT budgets from last year 
  
• 34% anticipate a slight decline in overall IT budgets
• 34% expect IT security spending to increase
• 43% say their IT security budget should remain the same

The survey also found that the upward trend in IT security budget allocation was more pronounced in the financial and governmental sectors than in other sectors.

It's January, which means I'm happy, because I'm not a huge Christmas fan, it's only 36 days till pitchers and catchers report, the days are starting to get longer, and it's also time for the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

I haven't been to the show for five years, when I covered it for CNET Networks. But it was a memorable trip, and the show holds a special place in my heart.

The announcements this year have not been mind blowing, although the Palm news and Sony's new ultraportable Vaio got me thinking.

Which personal technology items will you buy this year, if any?

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It's great for Google (and the rest of us, probably) that it got itself removed from The Spamhaus Project's list of top 10 worst spam networks, where the search service had reached as high as No. 3. But what networks remain on the list, and what other spam lists does the international non-profit spam-fighting organization have? I thought I'd never ask.

The top spam network, with 41 known spam issues, is sistemnet.com.tr, based in Turkey. Runner-up is HostFresh, Inc., out of San Francisco, with 34 known spam problems. Getting the bronze in place of Google, which had been "credited" with 31 spam problems on its network, is VSNL International, a subsidiary of the Tata Group, an Indian holding company. You can see the rest of the wannabes on the list here.

But there's more. Spamhaus has a top 10 list of spammiest countries, and who's No. 1? The U.S., that's who, with 1,500 current known spam issues. Way back in second place is China, with 453, while the Russian Federation grabs the third slot with 291. If only the summer Olympics played out this way.

Finally, Spamhaus names the individuals and organizations topping its list of 200 known professional spam gangs worldwide. And while these top 10 are dominated by Eastern European outfits (six), No. 1 is Canadian Pharmacy, which, oddly, is based somewhere in the United States. Or Eastern Europe. Spamhaus seems to have conflicting information about CP's location. Second is Leo Kuvayek, who is the only one to have his picture on the Spamhaus site (and he looks like such a nice boy!). Third place, out of India, is HerbalKing.

So there they are; the spam world's finest. Learn them, loathe them. They're scum.

How much this will affect technology outsourcing decisions by Western nations is beyond my ability to predict, but a financial scandal involving one of the largest Indian outsourcing services provider has roiled that nation's equity markets and forced the company's founder to resign in disgrace.

From Reuters via internetnews.com:

The head of Indian outsourcing firm Satyam Computer Services resigned on Wednesday, disclosing that profits had been falsely inflated for years and sending its shares tumbling nearly 80 percent.

India's biggest corporate scandal in memory threatens future foreign investment flows into Asia's third-largest economy and casts a cloud over growth in its once-booming outsourcing sector.

The news sent Indian equity markets into a tailspin, with Bombay's main benchmark index tumbling 7.3 percent in a firmer session for world markets and the Indian rupee fell.

Ramalinga Raju, founder and chairman of India's fourth-largest software services exporter, said in a statement that Satyam's profits had been massively inflated over recent years but no other board member was aware of the financial irregularities.

Nice to know that non-existent board oversight isn't a uniquely American corporate trait.

The case already is being referred to as India's "Enron." One immediate consequence is that Merrill Lynch has cut its ties with Satyam, which specializes in business software and back-office services (and, apparently, fraud). Among its clients are General Electric and Nestle.

I have to believe that the thousands of U.S. IT workers whose jobs have migrated to India in recent years are experiencing some intense schadenfreude right about now. I blame them not one bit.

OK, our friends over at Network World are trying to sugar-coat it, but this is for all the old IT guys: You gotta keep up with the latest useful sites on the Internets or you'll find yourself becoming obsolete fast. And these days, maybe more than ever, that's a bad situation to be in.

Fortunately, NW's Carolyn Duffy Marsan has compiled a handy list of nine websites for "IT professionals of a certain age, who don't spend every waking hour online but need to keep up with the latest innovations." Such diplomacy!

Tops on her list is Linked In, though I doubt the site is unfamiliar to the vast majority of IT professionals. For those not acquainted with Linked In, think Facebook without the breastfeeding photos or pictures of you drunk. Seriously, it's a business networking site that includes a number of useful features and an opportunity to stay connected with peers, former colleagues and a guy who once met a sysadmin you interviewed for a job three years ago. You never know if one of those people will help you out.

No. 2 is Google Apps for Business. Hey hey, you you, get on my cloud! (Yes, I'm of a certain age too. Shut up.) Understanding software-as-a-service, or cloud computing, could save your company money. Oh, and your job.

Let's skip down to No. 6, Twitter. You may have read in the past few days about security issues bedeviling the real-time messaging service, but as a user myself, I highly recommend it. It's a good communications device for you and your staff and will help keep you current. The downside? It will grate on you to use terms like "tweeting," "TwitterBar" and "TweetDeck." Plus you may find yourself being "followed" by a legion of Internet marketers, SEO experts and social networking addicts, plus questionable characters such as buzzblog and bonedaddyking. Don't worry; they're harmless. Plus you can "block" them if you want.

Obviously, keeping current with the enterprise in 2009 means keeping up with mobile. No. 9 on the list is "Enterprise Mobility Matters website from market research firm Strategy Analytics because it offers a comprehensive look at enterprise mobility issues." One would hope.

Check out the rest of the recommendations. Before you know it, the young guns working in your enterprise will be calling you "tweet-tastic." Well, if they're dorks.

Call it an overactive interest in celebrity illnesses, but just like I'm skeptical about how Jett Travolta died, I'm curious if we're really getting the whole story from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.

In a very honest letter today, Jobs said he now knows why he's lost so much weight, and that he's on the road to recovery. He said he has a hormone imbalance that has been robbing him of needed proteins. He only recently learned of this diagnosis after full blood tests.

Jobs said he decided to share his condition to quell rumors that have been flying since his decision last month to hand over Macworld keynote speaking duties to senior vice president Phil Schiller, who will speak tomorrow.

Now, Jobs is a survivor of a rare type of pancreatic cancer. Many of us in the tech world wonder if this latest illness is a recurrence, or if something else is going on.

So the question is: Will Jobs make an appearance on stage, following whatever announcement the super-secret company makes? It would certainly do Apple fans (and investors) well to see him in his traditional jeans and black turtleneck outfit. Jobs' letter was the subject of much comment on Slashdot today. And perhaps this isn't a laughing matter, but I couldn't help giggling over entries like this:

I just want to update everyone on my weight. I lost a few pounds when I got sick recently. Well, that or the scale varies by a few pounds (I just started using it, so I don't know how much it normally varies). I hope to have my weight back up in a few weeks. I hope this calms everyone's curiosity. I'll keep you updated on this as it progresses.

Meanwhile, while we wait for Macworld, here's the text of the letter Jobs posted on the Apple web site.

January 5, 2009

Letter from Apple CEO Steve Jobs

Dear Apple Community,

For the first time in a decade, I'm getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.

Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.

I've decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.

As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.

Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause of the hormone imbalance that has been "robbing" me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.

The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I've already begun treatment. But, just like I didn't lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery.

I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple's CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.

So now I've said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.

Steve